HUNDREDS of cannabis plants worth thousands of pounds were seized by police who raided an illicit drug production “factory” above a Birmingham pub.

Two people were arrested after officers who burst into the flat above the Hampton pub in Great Hampton Row, Hockley, found around 500 plants growing in two tiny attic rooms yesterday.

Police believe it would have been harvested and on the streets within a week.

Hampton boss Simon Dean, who rents the pub with his brother Martin, said the upstairs rooms were let out separately and he was shocked by the discovery.

“The upstairs rooms are separate from the pub and were rented to someone else. We hardly ever saw anyone there,” he said.

“We took the bar part over last year and have spent a lot of money on it. It’s frustrating because it has nothing to do with us. We don’t tolerate drugs in the bar.

“We just hope we haven’t wasted our money and can continue running it.”

Officers from West Midlands Police’s Newtown neighbourhood team swooped at 8am after a tip-off.

Thermal imaging cameras aboard a force helicopter had also picked up a heat source being given off by the superstrong growing lamps needed to cultivate the drugs, even though the rooms had been lined with foil to mask the tell-tale sign.

Acting Sgt Rob Leaver said officers smashed through a reinforced door to get into the third-floor rooms at 8am.

Two rooms were packed with rows of cannabis plants while a third contained empty pots and bags of fertiliser. Air ducts had been fixed to the ceiling to mask the smell of the drugs.

Sgt Leaver said: “Based on information from the community we discovered a cannabis factory operating right in the middle of the neighbourhood.

“It was a surprise when we looked into the rooms, we weren’t expecting to find so many plants.

“Some of the drugs were ready for harvesting and would have been gone in about a week. It’s a good job we got in before then.

“This operation has prevented these drugs from getting onto the streets of Birmingham.”

Sgt Leaver said a number of plants were taken away for analysis while the rest would be destroyed, denting the market for cannabis in the city.

Police smashed a record number of cannabis factories hidden away in suburban homes across the West Midlands last year.

A total of 174 cannabis factories were found in 2004 but this rocketed to 672 - almost two a day - by the end of last year.

A 33-year-old man was due before magistrates today charged with cultivating cannabis and abstracting electricity.

A woman, aged 24, was arrested at a separate address yesterday was released on bail pending further inquiries.